Walk of Shame
by WaddlesThePenguin
Summary: Emmeryn had work to do, and it started with confronting her broken people. Emmeryn takes a walk through Ylisse to begin healing them, but her efforts are not appreciated. Rated T for bad language.


**A.N. Hi! This is a one-shot about the beginning of Emmeryn's healing of Ylisse. If you see the scene before the fight in chapter 6, Chrom says about Emmeryn getting a scar from a rock thrown at her. This includes the rock. Alright, here we go! By the way, there is bad language.**

* * *

Emmeryn took a deep breath and looked down at herself. Clean dress, check. Speech planned, check. Brave face, check.

She was ready. Ready for a walk of shame. Ready to begin her atonement.

The guards opened the doors for her and she stepped out of the palace. Two guards went to follow her, but she waved her hand to stop them. She needed to do this alone, without the intimidating guards protecting her. She had to be as vulnerable as everyone else.

The crowd assembled fell silent at the sight of a ten-year-old girl walking slowly through them, making eye contact with them. Whispers broke the silence, some of the faces turned from surprise to anger. The whisper grew louder until it was an uproar of anger. Insults and obscenities began to be hurled at Emmeryn.

"Get, back to your castle, wench!"  
"Get out of my sight, bitch!"  
"Go cry to your bastard of a father! No wait, he's dead!"  
"Go run to your dead mother!"  
"How about I kill you where you stand? Annihilate your entire war-hungry family?"  
"Go find a pit and die, you c***!" **(A.N: I couldn't type that word fully)**

Emmeryn took the insults. They were hurt, she understood that. Her father had sent their families to their deaths. Her father's actions were inexcusable, but she was still saddened by his death. He was, after all, her father. So Emmeryn carried on walking, knowing the words were just ways to show anger. Tears sprang to her eyes but she blinked them away. She had to be strong. She had to give them hope.

Then the rock came.

It was no larger than a fingernail, but it hit her arm and stung like mad. More people started throwing rocks, but the small girl carried on, occasionally wincing or stopping to wipe away the blood.

Then one struck her lower thigh and stuck there. It tore a hole in her best, favourite dress. Blood ran out of the narrow opening. Emmeryn stumbled and someone called out "nice shot!". But the girl rose once again and walked to the wooden dais, her destination.

"People of Ylisse!" She started, projecting her voice over the tumult and struggling to keep it from cracking. "I hereby announce that I will do everything in my power to end this devastating war."

The people cut in again. "You think you can just swan in and fix everything? Well you can't!"  
"Go on, bleed like the soldiers in Plegia!"  
"I hope those rocks give you brain damage!"

The rock in her thigh was really hurting. Emmeryn's walk had probably tore the wound even more. "Starting from now, I will devote my days - my life if I must - to bringing your husbands, wives, parents and children home and parleying with the king of Plegia."

"That'll never happen!"  
"Wow, a ten year-old girl will save us all! That'll be the day!"

"And though I can never excuse my father's sins," she continued, "I will be forever open to you. I will find your families, bring them home and try to give whatever compensation I can in whatever form."

"How about for compensation you burn yourself at the stake?"  
"You can _never_ make this better. This isn't a fairy-tale!"

"I must apologise for my father's irrational, inexcusable tyranny, as he is no longer here. All I can do is beg your forgiveness and pledge never to be like my father. I wish to help you all and heal your broken lives. I will not take up any more of your time, as I am sure you have better things to do. People of Ylisse, I swear on my life today that I will not rest until our kingdom is one of peace and love!" Emmeryn turned and walked back down to the ground, bearing the insults once again. Her leg was soaked in blood now, the warm crimson substance running freely down her arms, legs, neck and face

Then a rock hit her in the back, hard. Emmeryn fell to the floor, defeated. Tears came freely in sobs that racked her body. She was sorry that her father was a tyrant. She was sorry that her own blood had caused so much other blood to be spilled. She was sorry she even _existed_. Tears mixed with blood and ran into her mouth, causing her to cough and splutter. Everything was bad for Emmeryn. Her mother had recently died; her father had died in a war he started; her people hated her and she had failed at being strong.

The sight of the broken girl subdued the crowd. There was silence for a moment, before the crowd dispersed, talking angrily and loudly, but no longer hurling insults and stones. Emmeryn felt a hand on her shoulder. The hand pulled her up to a sitting position and she found herself looking into the face of an old man. The man helped her up. "I'm Merric." He said, his voice warm and kind.  
"I'm Emmeryn." She replied, smiling.

Merric walked her down the street to the palace, holding her hand and seemingly not minding the blood. They chatted about trivial things: names, animal, food. It turned out Merric had been named after the hero-king Marth's mage friend, but he was no better at magic than he was at belly-dancing (which, obviously, was not a talent of his). This made Emmeryn laugh. When they arrived at the gates, Merric gave her a hug and told her where she could find him if she needed help. Emmeryn then went inside the palace where she was rushed by guards to the medical wing. Her wounds were healed, but she was told that the rock lodged in her thigh would leave a scar. After this she had bath to wash the blood off and went to eat supper with Chrom in his room.

Chrom was playing with his friend, Frederick, when she arrived with two plates of food. "Emm!" Chrom exclaimed, running over to her. "What happened today?"  
"We'll talk about it later." She said, smiling. She turned to Frederick. "Frederick, I heard your mother was looking for you." The boy blushed, did an awkward bow and left. "What did you play with Fred?" Emmeryn asked her brother.  
"The usual - swordplay and ball games." The boy replied.  
"What else happened?"  
"The duke of Themis came with his baby, Maribelle. About Lissa's age."  
"And?"  
"She smacked me in the nose."

Emmeryn laughed, becoming happier as she talked. They played with their toys for a while and then went to see baby Lissa.

* * *

That night Emmeryn snuggled into her bed with her stuffed bear, feeling a bit more contented than before. She knew she had a lot of work to do, and that there were probably more walks of shame to come. But they would be worth it.

Just because Emmeryn's father was war, it didn't mean that she couldn't be peace.


End file.
